I find the basic approach of my parents to make the most sense: balance. What I mean by that is that found a lot of good and important ideas in the books of Rav Nahman of Breslov but I think I took things too far. I could have stayed with the basic Litvak approach of the Gra and not gone overboard.
After all there are some major points the Gra pointed out that one does not really get in the framework of Breslov, that is the learning Torah thing and trust in God.
It seems to me the point is like that Thomas Reid made about Isaac Newton. If Newton had tried to come up with a theory about everything, he would have failed miserably and would not have benefited anyone. But he confined himself to one question. How to understand gravity, And from that people have benefited. So when you learn from a tzadik like Rav Nahman, it best to limit yourself to what he actually says and take it as answering the basic issues that he brings up.
I mean it is human nature to want a general world view that makes sense of the whole picture. But that world view ought to include balance and certain amount of awareness of one's limitations on how much do we really know?
The approach of balance was also emphasized by Rav Freifeld my first rosh yeshiva, and also Rav Shmuel Berenbaum of the Mir--but that is not really part of my nature. I tend to take things to their outer limits. But anyway I found the path of balance to be hard since I realized to excel in anything I needed to concentrate on that one thing.
The point of balance however is not to have just a collection of good values. If lay out all the parts of a car --that is still not a car. It is car when all the parts are put together and working together in harmony.
So just to be clear, I see an ideal schedule daily as including Rav Shach's Avi Ezri (the essence of the Oral Law, Math, Physics, Music, outdoor activity exercise.
After all there are some major points the Gra pointed out that one does not really get in the framework of Breslov, that is the learning Torah thing and trust in God.
It seems to me the point is like that Thomas Reid made about Isaac Newton. If Newton had tried to come up with a theory about everything, he would have failed miserably and would not have benefited anyone. But he confined himself to one question. How to understand gravity, And from that people have benefited. So when you learn from a tzadik like Rav Nahman, it best to limit yourself to what he actually says and take it as answering the basic issues that he brings up.
I mean it is human nature to want a general world view that makes sense of the whole picture. But that world view ought to include balance and certain amount of awareness of one's limitations on how much do we really know?
The approach of balance was also emphasized by Rav Freifeld my first rosh yeshiva, and also Rav Shmuel Berenbaum of the Mir--but that is not really part of my nature. I tend to take things to their outer limits. But anyway I found the path of balance to be hard since I realized to excel in anything I needed to concentrate on that one thing.
The point of balance however is not to have just a collection of good values. If lay out all the parts of a car --that is still not a car. It is car when all the parts are put together and working together in harmony.
So just to be clear, I see an ideal schedule daily as including Rav Shach's Avi Ezri (the essence of the Oral Law, Math, Physics, Music, outdoor activity exercise.
